feeling, plays his own compositions but also those of other composers, and, in a

word, is an exceptionally rare spirit!”

Lebrun apparently had a tone that could ‘open your ears’, he had a technical

facility which enabled him to execute feats hitherto considered impossible, and

above all: he himself wrote the concerti which gave him an outlet for all of those

talents. Free of the pretense which would have held him back from writing music

that was designed to impress posterity, he was also free to experiment with the

current styles of composition

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Bart Schneemann

Bart Schneemann was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1954. He completed his studies in The Netherlands with Han de Vries in 1977 and gained orchestra experience early in his career. This led to his appointment as principal oboist of the celebrated Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. a position he held until 1996 when he decided to focus on his soloistcareer. He is founder member of the Fodor Quintet in 1987 and worked intensly on restyling and increasing the artistic ranges of the celebrated Netherlands Wind Ensemble which is recognized as one of the best wind ensembles in the world.

Mr. Schneemann is a master in various fields of music wich has made him the unanimous winner of the prestigious 3M Music Laureate Prize in 1991 (Theo Loevendie and Ton Koopman were previous recipients of this award). The prize was installed to recognize, reward and stimulate outstanding musical talent in the Netherlands. His virtuoso and musically sensitive playing has attracted the attention of many first rate contemporary composers. Several of them have written works especially for him including Tristan Keuris, P.J. Wagemans, Wolfgang Rihm, John Zorn, Gerald Brophy, Gija Kancheli and Kevin Volans. The next composers wo will be asked to write for him are George Crumb and György Kurtág .

Mr. Schneemann has performed as a soloist with conductors like Valery Gergiev, Edo de Waart, Hartmut Haenchen, Ernest Bour, Lev Markiz, Frans Brüggen, Roy Goodman and Ton Koopman. There is a growing demand for Mr. Schneemann’s soloistical talents aswell as for his conducting skills, resulting in a growing amount of appearances throughout Europe, America, the Far East and Australia. Recently he conducted the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Pori Sinfonietta both orchestra’s invited him for future collaborations.

Mr. Schneemann has made numerous recordings for different labels. For instance the Saint-Saëns songs transcribed for oboe and piano with Paolo Giacometti, the Telemann Concerti for Channel Classics as well as Oboe Concerti by the German composer Lebrun. A recording of Gija Kancheli’s Childhood Revisited (written especially for Mr. Schneemann) has been released by ECM. Future engagements include conducting orchestras such as Brabants Orchestra as well as several soloist performances with a.o. Sinfonia Rotterdam and Musica Amphion and recitals with pianist Paolo Giacometti. Apart from playing, Mr. Schneemann holds the position of oboe professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Jan Willem de Vriend

Jan Willem de Vriend is the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and since 2006 the chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to having served as concertmaster with various ensembles, De Vriend developed a career as a conductor with several orchestras both in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy Germany, Sweden, as well as China and Australia. Opera conducting has come to play a significant role. He has led Combattimento Consort Amsterdam in unknown operas by Gassmann, Rameau, Heinchen and Haydn, among others, as well as familiar operas by such composers as Monteverdi, Handel, Rossini and Mozart. For the opera houses of Lucern, Strasbourg, Barcelona and Enschede, he has conducted operas by Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Strauss and others. He was invited by the Stanislavsky Theatre of Moscow to conduct an opera by Handel.

De Vriend was awarded the Dutch Radio 4 Prize of the year 2012. The Radio 4 Prize is awarded to a musician (or ensemble or institution) who has distinguished himself in bringing classical music to a broad public.

American Record Guide

Warm, spacious, pleasantly reverberant, and with nice depth. (...) (...) The orchestra playing is very fine indeed. A must-have release. American Record Guide

The Absolute Sound

Schneemann makes a great case for the composer; this is what Lebrun himself must have sounded like. His tone is sweetly expressive and effortlessly produced from top to bottom. He artfully inflects melodic lines, and his technique is faultless. (...) The Absolute Sound

International Record Review

Of the previous concertos I wrote: - Schneemann plays them with superb grace and fine technique and de Vriends accompaniments are thoroughly stylish and supportive. I am very happy to recapitulate that verdict. Recommended International Record Review